1. Technical Field
The present invention is generally related to a self mailing apparatus and, more specifically, to an apparatus for controlling the traveling direction of a piece of folding material exiting a folding machine.
2. Background of the Invention
A self-mailer is conventionally defined as a mailpiece without an envelope. The mailer usually contains one or more sheets of printed material, folded once or twice by a folding machine into a smaller piece for mailing. The folded material has a folded end and an open end. The open end is sealed with one or more tabs before the self-mailer is sent to the addressee. In addition, it may be required for an address label and a postage stamp or indicia to be applied to or printed on the folded material. Thus, the components of a commercially available equipment for self mailers can generally be grouped into a printer, a folding machine, a labeler and a tabbing device.
Folding machines are generally designed for folding enclosure material to be inserted into envelopes in an envelope inserting device. Thus, when a piece of folded material folded by such a machine exits the machine, it travels in the direction of the fold. This means that the folded end of the folded material is traveling first and the open end is trailing. While this traveling direction of the folded material is desirable when the folded material is to be inserted into an envelope in an envelope inserting device, it is not suitable for tabbing.
In a conventional tabbing device, the tab is facing an incoming piece of folded material so that the tab can be applied to the leading edge of the folded material. Furthermore, the tab must be applied to the open end of the folded material. Thus, when a piece of folded material is fed to a tabbing device, the leading edge of the folded material must be the open end, and not the folded end. In that case, the folded material exiting a folding machine must be rotated by hand or by other means to reverse its the traveling direction, before the folded material is fed to the tabbing device for tabbing.
It is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and an apparatus for directing a piece of folded material through the feed path of a folding machine such that the traveling direction of the folded material is corrected according to whether the folded material is intended for tabbing or for envelope insertion.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for directing a piece of folded material through the feed path of a folding machine in order to correct the traveling direction of the folded material according to the requirement for tabbing or for envelope insertion, wherein the normal traveling direction of the folded material in the feed path of the folding machine is the folded end leading the open end. Thus, for envelope insertion, the traveling direction of the folded material in the feed path of the folding machine is kept unchanged. For tabbing, however, the traveling direction must be reversed so that when the folded material exits the feed path of the folding machine, its open end leads the folded end.
The apparatus, according to the present invention, is operable in a first mode to maintain the traveling direction of a piece of folded material, and in a second mode to reverse the traveling direction, the apparatus includes: a turn chute having a front end and an opposing rear end, a first side and an opposing second side located between the front end and the rear end, wherein the first side and the second side define a front gap at the front end and a rear gap at the rear end; a first nip located at the first gap adjacent the first side of the turn chute for ingesting the folded material into the turn chute through the first gap with the folded end of the folded material leading the open end; a stop located at the rear end of the turn chute, wherein the stop is moved away from the second gap when the apparatus is operated in the first mode in order to allow the ingested folded material to move out of the turn chute through the second gap, and wherein the stop blocks the second gap when the apparatus is operated in the second mode in order to keep the folded end of the ingested folded material from moving out of the second gap; a second nip located at the first gap adjacent the second side of the turn chute; and means for urging the open end of the ingested folded material to move toward to second nip after the folded material has been moved into the turn chute and become disengaged from the first nip so as to cause the open end of the ingested folded material to be engaged with the second nip when the apparatus is operated in the second mode in order for the second nip to move the ingested folded material out of the turn chute with the open end leading the folded end.
Accordingly, in a feed path of a folding machine, a piece of folded material having a folded end and an opposing open end moves in a traveling direction with the folded end leading the open end, the method of reversing the traveling direction of the folded material includes the steps of: ingesting the folded material by a first nip into a turn chute with the folded end leading the open end; stopping the ingested folded material at the folded end by a stopper; disengaging the ingested folded material from the first nip; urging the open end of the ingested folded material to move toward a second nip; causing the open end of the ingested folded material to be engaged in a second nip; and transporting the ingested folded material out of the turn chute by the second nip with the open end leading the folded end.
The present invention will become more apparent upon reading the description taken in conjunction with FIG. 1 to FIG. 3D.